My Journey To My First WTA Point

Hi, my name is Sarah Barry, and I am a tennis player. I am 26 years old and from a small town in southwestern Ontario, Canada called Petrolia. I am currently playing ITF tournaments with the goal of getting my first WTA point and WTA ranking. Currently, my partner/coach, my family, and my work as a part-time photographer, assist me with some of my tennis expenses. However, because tournaments are spread out worldwide, the cost of travel and accommodation can quickly become a limiting factor for which tournaments I can travel to. I have created this Go Fund Me page with the goal of raising $10,000 to help me pay for travel and accommodation expenses so that I can compete in more tournaments. 

Here’s My Story:

How Tennis Became Part Of My Life

I was around eight years old when I first picked up a tennis racquet, and I was immediately drawn to the sport. In our basement in the family home, my dad made a “tennis wall” for me so I could practice hitting the ball against a wall. This memory sticks out because I did something that most kids of my age don’t do. I made a commitment to myself. I told myself that I would hit the ball on the wall every day. And that’s what I did. From there, I began taking lessons at the local club (The Sarnia Tennis Club) and wanted to play every day. I was the first to arrive and the last to leave. After lessons, I would hit on the rebound wall at the club, always wanting to improve. Around the age of 12, I started playing tennis every day at the tennis club with a group of kids who were just as passionate about tennis as I was. This was when tennis became a big part of my life, and I took tennis more seriously and began competing.

When I Started Competing

I started to play tennis tournaments around the age of 12. I played some tournaments in Canada, but because I live in a border town, I played most of my tournaments in the United States as it was closer and cost much less. I had some success as a junior playing national tournaments in the USA and playing USTA Team Tennis, making the USTA Junior Team Tennis Nationals and placing second in the country. However, during the winter months my tennis was limited. The closest indoor tennis facility was almost one hour away and with the cost, I could only play two times per week and tournaments on the weekends.

Tennis became frustrating for me, and as a young teen, I developed low self-esteem and many insecurities. These insecurities grew and interfered with my ability to play tennis; in most matches I played, I panicked on the court, unable to play how I knew I could. With no tools to help myself, I didn’t know why this was happening or how to make a change.

Mental Struggle

When I was 17, I was offered a full tennis scholarship to a school in the USA. However, this was when my mental struggles were at their worst. I declined the scholarship, and I stopped playing tennis soon after. Stopping tennis was devastating for me, but at the time, I was too mentally unwell to continue playing. Writing about my mental struggles is difficult. While I remember a few things from my mental health struggles as a teen, I have a lot of memory loss from this time in my life.

I didn’t see tennis as part of my path, so I enrolled at Lambton College in the photography program. After graduating, I pursued more education at The Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD University) in Toronto, Ontario. While attending school, I also worked part-time, living with my partner and living a “regular life.” But the heaviness of life in the city began taking its toll on me, and I started feeling very down. But a lucky opportunity had come up. My dad had tickets to the 2019 Rogers Cup (now called the National Bank Open) to watch women’s tennis. Going to this event would have a tremendous impact on me and completely change my life.

Coming Back Into Tennis

While I was at the Rogers Cup and watching the matches and players practicing, it made me realize I needed to play competitive tennis and pursue my ultimate dream: to play professional tennis. I told my partner Bernardo what I had felt, and we created a plan for me to play competitive tennis. With experience in competitive sports and a background in basketball, Bernardo began working with me on footwork skills and increasing fitness; now Bernardo is my full-time coach. When the pandemic hit, we moved out of Toronto to my hometown with my parents to have more security and save money so we could start travelling to tournaments – wherever they might be. During this time, there were people for me to train with, and my friend, Justin Bourassa, began working alongside Bernardo, helping to improve my tactical and technical skills. A few months later, I also began working with a coach in London, Ontario, alongside Bernardo to continue progressing. Unfortunately, my time with Justin was cut short, as his life was tragically and unnecessarily taken in October 2021. At this time, Bernardo took on the role of my full-time coach and is currently my full-time coach.

With lots of training and hard work, I began developing as a player, won some national tournaments, and reached a national ranking of #33 in Canada.